133 Hunting

Cha Ming—or Li Hou, as he was currently called—walked alongside Man Tou with a serious expression. It wasn't so much the nature of their conversation that caused Cha Ming's stone-faced disposition. Rather, it was the act of constantly suppressing his soul, body, and qi cultivation. It had taken him days to find someone with a thick enough yellow aura. He had discovered on this trip that the yellow aura didn't necessarily mean the man was a devil cultivator. No, it represented sin, just like the jade aura represented merit.

Fortunately, these things usually came hand in hand. With a thick enough yellow aura, the probability of dealings with devils increased substantially. It wasn't long before they were joined by many other individuals in the qi-condensation realm. Each of them also had a thick yellow presence, largely increasing the possibility of a devil cult. Regardless, they were up to no good. His façade was a trap, and his attitude toward them would depend on their actions and behavior.

"I see that you've found us a new companion, old bun," a graying, skinny man said jovially. Cha Ming could sense that his cultivation was at half-step foundation establishment.

"Who are you calling an old bun?" Man Tou said. "I'm much younger than you. Call me a fresh bun at the very least."

Many of the men chuckled. Cha Ming would have chuckled too if he hadn't seen the murderous glints in their eyes.

"You all stay here in the woods?" Cha Ming asked.

"Yes, young lord Li," Man Tou replied. "We have a camp in a clearing. It's very safe, and no one can find it unless we bring them there."

"That secretive?" Cha Ming said. "What could make it unfindable?"

"We have a mystic formation," Man Tou said proudly. "Anyone who looks for it will simply see a normal forest. In fact, you'll experience it yourself just up ahead. It's only a mile away."

A gust of wind caused a bloody scent to assault Cha Ming's nostrils as they neared the clearing. He could see the runic lines of a formation. Three flags were visible from his viewpoint, and while he could easily break it, what fun would that be? The element of surprise was much too valuable to squander.

"Brace yourself," Man Tou said. "We'll be crossing the boundary shortly. I'll hold on to your shoulder so you don't lose your sense of direction." The man's large, meaty palm clapped down on his shoulder, and Cha Ming was forced to sag down in discomfort lest he expose himself.

Cha Ming's vision distorted, and his sense of direction became chaotic. It only lasted for the fraction of a breath before he became aware of his surroundings once more. But instead of the camp he expected, a large ritual formation painted with blood materialized. Desiccated husks that used to be living men were piled up beside it. Off to the side, Cha Ming saw cowering mortals awaiting their fates.

"Is it to your liking, young lord?" Man Tou said harshly.

"Yes, it's exactly what I was looking for," Cha Ming said, looking around calmly. His composure evidently startled the men who had accompanied them. They wouldn't be startled much longer. Cha Ming calculated their positions and threw out twelve ruby sigils. Fifty tendrils shot out as they formed a basic least-grade combat formation. The motley crew, who hadn't even reached foundation establishment, didn't stand a chance. Only ashes remained.

"Who dares?" a voice yelled. Instantly, five figures appeared in front of Cha Ming. Two were early-foundation-establishment experts, while the others had barely broken through. Invariably, they all possessed ochre phantoms.

Clouds and crackling lightning instantly appeared beneath Cha Ming's feet as he dashed over to the five cultivators. He swung out his staff, bashing against them with quaking power. Two of them backed away, coughing blood, while three others with stronger bodies transformed and grasped at his staff. They wrenched it out of his grip, but Cha Ming was unconcerned.

Three charged at him, while two others shrank back, sending waves of soul attacks at him. Cha Ming released the full pressure of his soul, refusing to get entrained into their illusory world. They coughed out blood once more due to backlash, but instead of red blood, it was blue.

"We're no match for him," the lust devil with the highest cultivation said. "Activate the defensive formations!"

Cha Ming's pupils constricted when he felt five terrifying formations activate around him.

Shit, he thought. They may not have a formation master, but they had someone lay down so many defensive formations. Heavens damn you, Guo Jia.

Each formation complemented the element of the user. The two lust devils activated two illusory formations, causing Cha Ming's eyesight to become useless. Even his Eyes of Pure Jade were obscured. Meanwhile, countless blades cut him and tongues of flame licked him. His body's vitality began to sap away.

Cha Ming wasted no time. He slapped out three talismans. They were shielding talismans in water, earth, and metal elements. He darted around randomly, hoping to distract them as he focused on the most important task—restoring his vision.

Cha Ming sent out twelve earth sigils, setting up a twenty-foot-wide absorption combat formation. He felt the illusory formation strain slightly as the local moisture was sucked into it. He also felt his outermost shield break and felt his body shift as three attacks landed on his temporarily stationary body.

Cha Ming clicked his tongue. He threw out a Nine Heavens Lightning Talisman, a Five-Fire Cremation Talisman, and a Nine Blades, One Dao Talisman at the intruders. They instantly backed away, leaving him alone in his private space. At the same time, they continued raining attacks from afar. Ice shards, sapping vines, and tongues of flame impacted his shields one after another.

To buy himself time, he laid out twelve blue formation flags and twelve water sigils. They formed a mirrorlike shield around him, intercepting all of the incoming attacks.

First step accomplished. The defensive formation, while small, was just there to buy him time. He extended his soul outward, probing the limits of the illusory formation while his shield weakened little by little. One… Five… Twelve… Seventeen… Twenty-four! All twenty-four nodes appeared in his mind's eye, along with the formation lines. Circulation of water energy between these eight points is vital… Now to make it circulate even more.

He threw out twelve rarely used green flags, followed by twelve green sigils. His qi surged as he poured eight percent of his wood qi into the combat sigils. Meanwhile, he summoned his Clear Sky Brush from thin air and sent out brushstroke after brushstroke of green liquified elemental essence.

Three more breaths…

Unfortunately, it was then that he heard fierce roars as his opponents activated their consumption abilities. Their powers increased by an entire sub-realm. The shield began to crack and break before shattering into a thousand shards of blue qi.

"You're mine!" a voice yelled.

Cha Ming swiftly used Stormchaser Steps to move around them, turning lethal stabs and bashes into cuts only inches deep. Meanwhile, he continued painting the remaining formation lines.

Three… Two… One… Done. As the last green brushstroke landed, the formation consolidated. The moisture in the environment instantly disappeared, and the five devils finally appeared in plain sight as massive vines wriggled out of the forest floor.

"What have you done?" the most powerful lust devil yelled. Evidently she was distraught by the illusory formation's disappearance. Their energy had been drained to supplement the formation that Cha Ming had laid down, the Lesser Thousand Vines Formation.

It was peculiar in that it was a constricting formation that devoured energy. Often they were laid down with supportive water formations that were sacrificed to feed the vines. In this case, Cha Ming used the opponent's water formation as the sacrifice.

Cha Ming didn't bother to discuss it with them. He immediately set half the vines on the two lust devils, who could only cry out as their water-based vitality was sapped away. Meanwhile, the other vines intercepted the other three devils, who began fleeing.

Cha Ming darted out, abandoning the formation he had laid to catch the fastest of the devils, the wrath devil. He sent out an ice-based talisman to trap the devil in an icy prison and then laid down a combat formation to finish him off with deadly spikes.

Two more to go. The next fastest, the early-foundation-establishment greed devil, was already ten miles away. Cha Ming slapped out a talisman to further increase his speed by fifty percent. Soon, the greed devil appeared in his line of sight.

"Why do you bother with us?" the devil said in a panicked voice. "We clearly wouldn't have picked on you if you hadn't invited yourself in."

"I'm afraid that I don't need a reason to hunt creatures like you," Cha Ming said. He summoned a flaming combat formation around the devil, who could only wail in agony but couldn't escape. Cha Ming was simply too fast. He could move the formation and kite him at his leisure.

"You won't escape our master," the devil howled. "I'll be back, and we'll see who has the last laugh in the end."

The devil soon melted into a puddle of gold, which Cha Ming retrieved along with the devil's bag of holding. Then he disappeared in the direction of the gluttony devil. It was a creature of the forest, surrounded by living trees and animals. There was no way it could escape Cha Ming's twenty-mile detection radius.

Cha Ming rushed through the trees for a half hour before finally catching up to the large creature with barklike skin. It was surrounded by an acidic pond.

"Just give up and accept your fate," Cha Ming said. "I'll grant you a quick death."

The devil hesitated. "Fine," it said, throwing up its arms. In response, Cha Ming summoned twelve gold sigils, covering the area around the monster with thousands of golden blades. It quickly hacked him apart until only a solid green core was left.

Suddenly, Cha Ming eyesight went blurry, then black. Pain overwhelmed him as power seared his eyes with the appearance of a ninth rune. An ancient voice sounded out within his mind, granting him inspiration on a new source of power.

Only those who share my will can understand my resolve.

Information surged into Cha Ming's mind. He quickly became aware of an intangible will that had been building up inside him as he slew devils one after another. It was the power of devil sealing, Devil-Sealing Intent. He instantly knew that from now on, whatever talismans he crafted and whatever formations or battle techniques he executed, would contain this special power. Even simple fist strikes would now be imbued with the power of devil sealing, naturally restraining the devils. And while the power was quite weak now, it would grow stronger with his increasing kill count.

Time to free those prisoners, Cha Ming thought. Unfortunately, a third of them had died due to the aftershocks of the battle. He fed and healed the ones that remained and escorted them to a nearby city, where they were sorted out by the local lord. There was no reward, but that didn't matter. He had tempered himself and steadied his cultivation, and he had developed Devil-Sealing Intent.

Besides, he had also earned five devil kills, enough to earn him more much-needed lessons from Lu Tianhao. There wasn't much time remaining, and Cha Ming had to make the best use of these quiet days.

***

"I wonder who leaked the information," Prince Lei grumbled.

"It's difficult to say," Wang Jun said. "Someone may have intercepted the minister's correspondence. They may have also connected the dots when they saw the vast amount of demon-beast materials being bought out by the Jade Bamboo Conglomerate and your residence. Either way, things aren't looking good."

"Do you think they'll be able to hold out until the materials arrive?" Prince Lei asked. They were both drinking tea in Wang Jun's tent, the most spy-proof tent in their camp.

Wang Jun shook his head. "Not with their current strength, even with the information I send. However, there is a way to make things happen. I'll need to sneak out again."

Prince Lei frowned. "What could possibly sway the odds in our favor?"

"You're better off not knowing," Wang Jun replied.

***

A figure appeared from the shadows in front of Huxian's cave. "Still feeling depressed?" he asked. There was silence for a few moments before the sound of dragging paws, followed by Huxian's pathetic figure appeared. He was both depressed and wounded.

"What do you want?" Huxian asked.

"You're losing this war," Wang Jun pointed out.

"You're not wrong, but it's not like I can't escape at the last minute," Huxian said. He was right of course, but Wang Jun could tell that he wouldn't. His character was too proud. But if things dragged on, he would die. And so would Cha Ming.

"I've come with a gift," Wang Jun explained, retrieving a jade box from his robes. He opened the box and revealed three treasures.

Huxian's eyes glittered. "One five-hundred-year-old flood-dragon heart fungus, one thousand-year-old silver jasmine root, and one earth-demon core crystal. What's the catch?"

"You remember those six hundred jin of immortal-jade core?" Wang Jun said. "I want five hundred of it to be handed off to me secretly when we conduct the initial trade. I don't want the others to know."

Huxian nodded. "Definitely worth it. You have yourself a deal."

Wang Jun placed the box on the ground without another word and walked back into the shadows.

***

Huxian left his mountain after handing the earth-demon core crystal to the geomantic boa. It wouldn't be an issue for her to break through to peak purification with it, greatly increasing their terrain advantage. He naturally had another candidate for the silver jasmine root. It was just a matter of whether he would accept it.

"Silverwing, do you have a bit?" Huxian yelled to the tall spire where Silverwing's cave was. He was greeted by an empty silence. Shaking his head, he tossed the jasmine root onto the ground. It emitted a smell that most demon beasts found irresistible.

"The war is going terribly down there," Huxian said. "I have a treasure here that will help you break through. It's strictly business, so no need to thank me." Then, seeing that Silverwing wouldn't come out easily, he ran back to his own mountain peak. He wasn't there when a silver bird swooped down and grabbed the root, taking it back to its cave at the peak of the spire.